Method of making rubber thread or yarn, and machine for making the same



May 3, 1938. M SPENCER 2,116,222

. METHOD OF MAKING RUBBER ,THREAD 0R YARN, AND MACHINE FOR MAKING THESAME Original Filed July 25, 1954 5 Sheets-Sheet lwywu ATTORNEYS.

INVENTOR.

May 3, 1938. w. M. SPENCER METHOD OF MAKING RUBBER THREAD OR YARN,

AND MACHINE FOR MAKING THE SAME Original. Filed July 25, 1934 3Sheets-Sheet 2 7 "W": I) I 'INVENTOR.

ATTORNEYS.

SPENCER METHOD OF MAKING RUBBER THREAD OR YARN,

3 Sheets-Sheet 3 May 3, 1938. w.

AND MACHINE FOR MAKING THE SAME Original Filed July 25, 1934 INV NTOR.fi zlaw 7% v ME ATTORNEY Patented May 3, 1938 METHOD OF MAKING RUBBER,THREAD R YARN, ANDRMACHINE FOR MAKING THE SAME William M. Spencer,Trenton, N. J., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Filatex Corporation,New York, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application July 25, 1934,Serial No. 736,898.

- Renewed July 14. 1937 6 Claims.

My invention relates to a new and improved method of making rubberthread or yarn, and a new and improved machine for making the same.

One of the objects of my invention is to produce rubber thread or yarn,which shall be uniform in all respects, and which can be covered withone or more helices of cotton thread or silk thread or the like, inorder to produce the familiar covered rubber yarn of commerce.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide a simpleand efiicientmachine, whichshall operate in a uniform manner, in order toproduoerubber thread of any desired length, from latex, or any suitablesolution or suspension of rubber.

Another object of my invention is to produce an improved machine andmethod of the type, in which the rubber thread or yarn is continuouslyproduced from the latex or the like, without the use of any extrusiondevices.

Other objects of my invention will be setforth in the followingdescription and drawings which illustrate a preferredembodiment-thereof.

Fig. l is a top plan view.

Fig. 2 is a side'elevation.

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view showing certain of the essential parts ofthe machine. 7 i

Fig. 4 is a cross section of the rubber thread or yarn, before anycovering has been applied thereto.

30 Referring to Fig. 3, this illustrates the fundamental operations ofthe improved method.

Latex or the like, is located in one or more troughs or other suitablereceptacles. In this particular embodiment of mp invention I have showntwo receptacles C and Ca.

Thereceptacle C is provided with a roll 23, which is turnably mounted,and the lower part of said roll 23 clips into the latex or the like.Said roll may be provided, if desired, with a central circular ridge23a. Said ridge may be omitted, but I prefer to use the same.

The receptacle Ca is provided with a similar roll 25a which is mountedupon a shaft 25. Said 45 roll 25a is provided, if desired, with a ridge2%.

The cross section of each said ridge 23a and 25b is preferablytriangular, so that the edge of each said ridge is sharp. However, theremay be considerable variations in the shape of each said ridge.

Each of said rolls 23 and 25a picks up a thin film of latex or the like,uponthe ridges 23a and 25b. These applicator rolls 23 and 25a,. supplythe thin films of latex, to a collector roll 26,-which has a centralgroove 26a. The cross section of the groove 26a may be semi-circular.However there may be considerable variation in the shape of said groove26a. For example, the depth of said groove 26a may be seven-thousandthsof an inch, and its width may be ten-thousandths of an inch, so that thecross-section of said groove 26a need not be exactly semi-circular.

The roll 26 is suitably heated. The rolls 23 and 25a successively insertor force thin films of latex into the groove 26a of said roll, so thatsaid, groove 26a is substantially filled with, the latex. The heat ofroll 26 is sufiicient to partially coagulate the latex which isdeposited by roll 25a, so

that the latex which is deposited by roll 23, can cling to thepreviously partially-coagulated latex, without running out of groove26a. The roll 26 is suitably heated, so as to" gradually coagulate thelatex or the like, so that said latex is coague lated into coherentthread form, before the latex is stripped from the roll 26. Thecross-section dusting medium. The receptacle 3'! is continuously movedor vibrated in any suitable manner, so as to agitate the finely powderedmaterial therein, and to deposit said finely powdered material upon thethread of latex.

The dusted latex thread is then passed between a pair of guide rolls 35and 36, and the thread is then wound up upon a suitable cardboardcylinder or the like, which is mounted upon the driven roll 9.

' Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, a motor M operates reduction gearing,which is mounted in a casing R, and said reduction gearing drives apulley I. The pulley l is connected by means of a belt 2, with arelatively large pulley 3 of the shaft 4. The shaft 4 is provided with apulley 5, which is connected by means of a belt 6, to the pulley 1. Thispulley l is mounted upon the shaft 8 of the take-up roll 9. i

The operation of the machineisrather slow, as the roll 26 only has about1 revolutions per minute, and the diameter of the roll 26 is about fourinches.

Of course the capacity of the machine can be increased, by increasingthe diameter of the roll 25, or by otherwise suitably increasing thespeed of operation. I

An endless chain II engages the sprockets l0, l2, l5, l6, and IS.

The sprocket ID is mounted upon the shaft 4, so as to turn in unisontherewith.

The guide roll 33 is mounted upon the shaft 4.

The roll 28 is mounted upon the shaft I4, which is driven by means ofthe sprocket l2.

The roll 23 is mounted upon a shaft, which is provided with a pulley,which is driven by means of a belt 22, which passes around the pulley20, said pulley 29 being mounted upon the shaft I8, which is turned bythe sprocket l5.

The roll a is mounted upon the shaft 25, and said shaft 25 is providedwith a pulley which is driven by the belt 24. Said belt 24 passes arounda pulley 2!, which is mounted upon the shaft 3. I

Any suitable means can be provided for adjusting the shafts, in order toregulate the positions of the rolls 23 and 25a, and to regulatethetensions of the driving belts.

For example, the shaft of the roll 25a. may be mounted in a verticallyslidable block. The shaft of the roll 23 may be provided in ahorizontally slidable block, and any suitable and well known regulatingmeans may be providedlso that the ridges 23a. and 251 have their sharplytapered points just entering the groove 26a, but without any contactbetween the walls of said groove and the walls of said ridges.

The roll 25a. initially supplies a certain amount of latex to the groove26a, and said latex is retained within the groove 26aby natural adhesionor capillaryattraction. The roll 26 may be made of steel, such asstainless steel, and the rolls 25a and 23 may be madeof duralumin.

However, and if desired, the ridges 23a. and 251) could be omitted, asit is only necessary to have the film of latex introduced into thegroove 26a,

from which it is picked off by the natural adhesion of the walls of saidgroove.

The latex is applied to the collecting member 26 in the form of a thinsurface film which is formed on the surface of one or more applicatorrolls. Whenever I refer to a thin surface film in the claims, it is to'be understood that I refer to a film or layer of latex which, adheres tothe surface of an applicator or pick-up member, which picks up a surfacefilm of latex from a body of latex and which transfers the picked upfilm of latex to the collecting member 26 or its equivalent.

' As shown in Fig. 4, the latex is deposited in the groove 26a inlaterally continuous form, instead of being deposited in the form of twoseparated strips upon the edges of said groove 26a.

The first roll 25a introduces a preliminary deposit of latex into thegroove 26a, and the second roll 23 completes the deposit of the latex.

As shown in Fig. 2, the roll 26 is provided with any suitable'electricalheater H, which is provided with connecting wires 3|, which areconnected to a suitable rheostat 32.

Said wires 3! are connected to the heater H by means of brushes 3!),which touch plates 3|].

The guide roll 33 is providedwith a belt 34, which drives the lowerguide roll 36, by means of a suitable pulley. The top roll 35 may beomitted, and if used it is frictionally driven by means of the lowerroll 36.

The rolls 35 and 36 are preferably plain cylindrical rolls.

Referring to Fig. 2, the receptacle 3'! is mounted on a pivot 38.

The pivot 38 is of any suitable friction type,

so that the receptacle 3! can be adjusted to any angle, and it willremain at said adjusted angle.

The receptacle 3'! is vibrated by means of an armature 39, which isvibrated by means of any suitable electromagnetic device, which islocated within the casing 40. This electromagnetic device is suppliedwith current from a battery 42; by means of wires 4| and Ma.

Any suitable form of make-and-break or buzzer mechanism may be used, forrapidly vibrating the armature 39.

' The sprocket l 9 is mounted upon a shaft 43 and said shaft 43 isprovided with a drum 44, and said drum 44 is provided with a face cam45.

Said cam 45 contacts with a roller 46a, which is connected to an arm 46.A spring 48 is connected to the arm 46, which is mounted on a pivot 46c.Said spring 48 maintains the roller 46a pressed against the cam 45.

The arm 46 is provided with an extension 41,

and said extension arm 41' has an eye 49, through i 4 While I have showna preferred embodiment of my invention, it is clear that numerouschanges and omissions could be made without departing from its spirit.For example, the process can be used for forming a rubber object of anydesired length and of any desired shape and of any desired thickness.Likewise the method claims "are not to be restricted to any particularmechanism. Likewise, it is'to be understood that the latex or similarmaterial contains suitable vulcanizing ingredients, together withsuitable accelerators, so that the temperature which is utilized issufiicient to directly coagulate, and if desired, to partially vulcanizethe rubber. The roll 26 may be heated to a temperature of 80 C., andpreferably less than 100 C. After stripping, and before dusting, thecoagulated rubber thread may be heated so as to completely vulcanize thesame. I prefer to' strip the rubber thread, after it has beensubstantially vulcanized. The final product is stretchable and elastic.

Likewise, the rubber material such as latex, which is used as thestarting material ,pan be partially vulcanized if desired. This can bedone by heating the latex, compounded with vulcanizing material andaccelerator, at a temperature of about 95 0., for about half an hour,without any substantial evaporation of the water in the and uniform massof latex. This pressure may be very low and even zero, or it may be ashigh as is desired. Likewise, I do not wish to be limited to the use ofrolls or other rotating members, in the broader aspect of the invention.While I prefer to use a heated member having a groove or depressiontherein, for receiving and heating the latex or the like, the inventionis not necessarily limited to a grooved and heated member.

Whenever I refer to latex, either in the description or in. the claims,I wish to include any equivalent or similar rubber suspension orsolution, and I also wish to include materials other than rubber, andhaving properties similar to rubber.

For convenience, the pools of latex in the tanks C and Ca may bereferred to as sources of latex, and it will be noted that the heatedroll is out of contact with said sources of latex, in forming the rubberbody. The invention generally applies to the use of a single tank, andthe use of a single applicator device. By an applicator device, Iinclude any device for feeding or supplying latex to the heated roll orother heated and moving member. Likewise, the invention includes the useof a source of heat external to roll 25 or any equivalent device, forsetting the latex thereon. Hence, whenever I refer to a heated andmoving member, I wish to include the use'of an external source of heat.

The tanks C and Ca can be partially filled with latex, and the upperpart of each said tank can be filled with an inert gas, such as nitrogenor carbon dioxide, in order to prevent the formation of surface films insaid pools of latex material. The latex material may include suitablefillers (in addition to the sulphur) and such fillers may be clay, zincoxide. Likewise the latex material includes anti-oxidants andaccelerators. Likewise, I prefer to add casein or other protectivecolloid or colloids, in order to prevent the coagulation which mayresult from the addition of clay or the like. As an illustration, aworking formula of the latex material is as fo1lows:-

Latex rubber by weight) -cc 1'76 Zinc oxide gms 3 Sulphur gms 3Accelerator (No. 552) gm 1 Anti-oxidant (Neozone L) i gm 1 Clay gms 1010% solution of caseinin ammoniawater cc 5 I claim:

1. A method of forming a coherent and elastic rubber thread, whichconsists in supplying latex in the form of a thin surface film to thegroove of a moving member, the latex being supplied to said groove inlaterally continuous form intermediate the edges of said groove, saidmoving member being out of contact with the source of said latex,setting the latex into coherent and elastic form in said groove by meansof heat, and then stripping the rubber member which has been thusformed, from said groove.

2. A method of forming a coherent and elastic rubber thread, whichconsists in supplying latex to the groove of a moving member in aplurality of steps, the latex being supplied to said groove in laterallycontinuous form intermediate the edges of said groove the latex which isthus supplied in said steps forming a single member in said groove, andthen setting said rubber member into coherent and elastic form by meansof heat, and stripping said rubber member from said moving member.

3. A machine for making a coherent and elastic rubber member, comprisinga source of latex, a roll having a groove and being out of contact withsaid source of latex, means for turning said roll, means. for heatingsaid roll, and turnable roller means for supplying latex from saidsource into the groove of said heated roll in laterally continuous form.

i. A machine for making a coherent and elastic rubber member, comprisinga turnable roll having a groove therein, means for heating said roll,means for turning said roll, and an applicator roll which is in contactwith a source of latex, a portion of the outer surface of saidapplicator roll registering with and being narrower than said groove,and means for turning said applicator roll, said heated roll being outof contact with said source.

5. A machine for making a coherent and elastic rubber member, comprisinga turnable roll having a groove therein, a plurality of latex-feedingdevices adapted to supply latex to said groove in laterally continuousform intermediate the edges of said groove, means for heating the latexdeposited within said groove.

6. A machine for making a coherent and elastic rubber member, comprisinga turnable roll having a groove therein, a plurality of latex-feedingdevices adapted to supply latex to said groove in laterally continuousform intermediate the edges of said groove, means for heating the latexdeposited within said groove, said latex-feeding devices being turnablerolls.

WILLIAM M. SPENCER.

